Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS issues

[remics]

Hello all,

I have a hdd as stated in the topic title with the following identification information:
S/N: 9QE1W6AH
ST3250620AS
P/N: 9BJ14E-308
Firmware: 3.AAJ
Date Code: 07296
Site Code: TK

Symptoms:
The problem is that it is now producing a very low volume high pitched sound when powered up. It seems to be generated on the circuit board and the motor does not spin up. There is no head movement, no motor spinning or any other mechanical sound coming out of it whatsoever. Just this very high pitched sound that is barely audible coming from somewhere in the power connector area. I have looked at the circuit board and it looks ok to me.
I have tried different power sources with the data connector on or off and no change in behavior.

Cause:
I have transported the hdd in low temperature from one place to another. I did allow some time for it to reach room temperature but that may not have been enough. When I tried to power it back again using external USB adapter and power supply it did spin initially but then some sort of parking sound was heard and drive seemed dead. All it produced was the high pitched sound. It didn't produce smoke or burning smell. It didn't suffer any mechanical shocks as it was handled quite carefully.

I am somewhat electronically literate but unfortunately I am also away from home with no access to a multimeter or soldering iron.

I have been reading this forum and couldn't really find similar symptoms in other threads. I am holding the TVS diodes as possible suspects but am unable to properly test them.

If this behavior is familiar to you please advise. If pictures are needed I can provide them, I don't want to add unnecessary load on the forum servers so will only post them if required.

Any advice is more than welcome.

Thank you !

[BlackST]

Seized motor or head stiction (likely) or damaged motor driving circuitry (5-10% possibility).

[remics]

Hello BlackST.

Thank you for the quick reply !

Other than sending it to a data recovery company is there anything I can do to it ?
Are there any tests that I can perform to rule out the PCB as the source of the problem ?

Thank you again for the input !

[pcimage]

Seized motor is very common on this series.

PCB is a small possibility though, like BlackST says. To discount this, try another PCB. PCB from any drive of same model, just to see if it spins up.

Where are u based?

[remics]

I am now in the Czech Republic.

There is a company called DataRecovery.cz , do they have a good reputation ?

I am an expat in this country and have very little knowledge of the local IT market.

Thanks for the input !

[BlackST]

...but if it doesn't spin up with replacement PCB, you can do nothing. Time for a pro.

[hddguy]

read the forum for posts regarding siezed motors on Seagate Barracuda. So many things to consider such as:

Platter Alignment
Spacers
Head removal
correct tools and clean environment
Recovery of data from disk following physical work, assuming successful


Best option for you would be to consult a pro who will have correct equipment, tools, experience, skill, and capabilities to recover data.

Maybe this is not the response you wanted, but its the best one you are going to get.

[remics]

I have a 320GB PATA drive of the same generation
st3320620a
p/n: 9bj04g-305
fw: 3.aae
date: 08251
site: WU

It looks roughly the same. It is using the same enclosure and motor, the 3 contacts are in the same position and the PCB is somewhat similar but different mostly due to different ATA tehnology.

1. My question is, should I try that PCB ?
2. Do I run any risks of bricking the 320GB HDD as well ?
3. Do I run any risks of damaging the 250GB even more ?

[hddguy]

Place the PCB from the working drive onto your defective drive. It will not be compatible as ROM will be different so do not expect it to work, but if the disk spins up with this new PCB then motor is fine and PCB is damaged.

If motor does power, then simply place native ROM on donor PCB (assuming you have the correct soldering equipment and skills) and data should be accessible.

If disk does not power up, then chances are motor is dead.

[remics]

Thank you for all the help guys. I will test to see if the working PCB spins up the drive but that is as far as I am willing to go.

I don't have the skills and definitely no tools to do a ROM swap. Neither am I ever going to open up a HDD.

I am hoping the motor is not seized and that it's just a PCB issue as I feel that will be less costly.

I have already ordered a similar drive, I am expecting it not to be identical to mine so there will be little I will be able to do by myself. I will probably take them both to a data recovery center and keep my fingers crossed for a decent quote, one that I can afford.

[remics]

I am happy to report that the drive does spin up nicely using the PCB from the PATA 7200.10 320GB HDD. This tells me that the internal workings of the HDD are seemingly unaffected by whatever issue stops the hard from working with its original PCB.

Now, I ask of you what are the other possible reasons for the behavior reported in the first post?

1. Drive doesn't spin
2. PCB emits a very low volume, bearly audible high pitched noise when powered up
3. Drive has been exposed to -10 Celsius and then +20 Celsius within a 30 minutes timeframe that may have caused this defect.
4. Drive does spin up using different PCB


Please tell me what might have failed on the PCB.

Thank you !

[BlackST]

The pcb was defective. 5 minutes before died, he was alive. I drove the car into the garage and now, the morning after, when I turn the key it doesn't start.
You need authopsy on the dead pcb? Send it in. It's pointless, anyway. What matters (IF matters) is the data inside the drive).

[remics]

I wouldn't like to upset you with my attitude but I am here to learn. Of course an unfortunate event has brought me to this site but I would like to use this opportunity to learn something.

I don't expect anyone doing me favours or solving my problems for me. Instead I hope to get some expert leads into the right direction. Solving a problem yourself is extremely rewarding way beyond the problem itself.

I hope to find out as much as I can about the dead PCB before ultimately calling in a specialist. I would be extremely happy if the solution was within my knowledge and ability but will certainly not take the job of a professional away from him.

If any of you is willing to guide me into the right direction here I would be more than grateful, otherwise please excuse my intrusion and whatever disconfort I may have caused you with my thread.

Thank you !

[drc]

Sounds like a problem with the motor control part of the PCB. There's no point in trying to repair it if your drive works with another PCB.

[remics]

Indeed the BGA under the SMOOTH chip looks a little out of order, it is not as clean as the one under the bigger agere controller chip.

[rchadwick]

You can determine failures by eye only when lucky (Obvious burns, broken components, etc). I wouldn't go unsoldering that BGA just yet. The SMOOTH runs the spindle motor, so that deserves a look. You may also have a regulator problem. The temperature was likely just a coincidence. It could have been damaged by static.

DR guys focus on the data, not the cause. Like a doctor, he doesn't care how you got AIDS, he just treats the ailment.

[remics]

Update:

I have contacted an user on this forum for a replacement PCB. He sent me a similar PCB but not identical.
My PCB had Agere chipset, Samsung cache memory and a certain Smooth controller.
The PCB I got in the mail has LSI Chipset, EtronTech cache memory and a Smooth that does not match the digits on mine.

I have not tried this PCB on my HDD as it looks a bit too different from what I was expecting.

What should I do ? Would a simple ROM chip swap do the trick or should I get a better match before even attempting the ROM swap ?

Please advise!

[remics]

Went ahead with the ROM swap.
Now the drive is being recognized in the BIOS as ST325062 0AS, with a space between 62 and 0AS.
It is also unusable in Windows which asks to fromat it but the capacity would be 29GB.
Unfortunately I use this drive with an external USB adapter on my laptop.
The internal sounds when powered up seem normal, I can hear the motor spinning up, the heads being initialized, it seems to spin consistently without abnormal noises. When powered down I can clearly hear the heads being parked and the motor slowing down to a halt.

Is there any way to extract logs for you guys to analyze ? Is this behavior consistent with previous experiences of yours ?

Please provide input !

[BlackST]

Please send it in. Or continue experimenting.

[jono-ats]

Does the number on the white sticker on both PCBs match?

Is the main number on the processor the same?

if not, maybe your board is not compatible.

Or there is some other problem, perhaps even firmware or electrical connection.